1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and more specifically to micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) resonators.
2. Background
MEMS is a technology used to form miniature electro-mechanical devices with mechanical moving parts. These devices may be used to implement various radio frequency (RF) circuit components such as resonators, switches, variable capacitors (varactors), inductors, etc. MEMS devices may have certain advantages over RF circuit components fabricated in other manners, such as higher quality factor (Q), lower insertion loss, better linearity, etc.
A MEMS resonator is a MEMS device that can resonate at a particular frequency, which may be referred to as the resonance frequency. A MEMS resonator may be implemented using various structures known in the art. A particular structure and suitable dimensions may be selected to obtain the desired resonance frequency for the MEMS resonator.
A MEMS resonator may be used for a low-power application with a small RF signal. In this case, the resonance frequency of the MEMS resonator may not be affected too much by the RF signal. However, the RF signal may be large for a high-power application, such as a transmitter of a wireless communication device. If a large RF signal is applied to the MEMS resonator, then the resonance frequency of the MEMS resonator may be varied by the RF signal, which is typically undesirable. A MEMS resonator that can handle a large RF signal would be desirable.